Without specifying the various kinds of portable ladders in use, it may be stated that the Metropolitan Brigade came to use one, consisting of a main ladder varying from 32 to 36 feet high, and furnished with a canvas trough along its length. It was doubtless a machine of this sort which was in use when Fireman Ford lost his life at the Gray's Inn Road fire in 1871. A second ladder, jointed to the first, extended the height 15 feet; while other ladders in some escapes raised the height to 60 and in some cases to 70 feet. The escape in general use by the brigade in 1889 consisted of a main ladder, having the sides strengthened by patent wire-rope, and finished at the back with a shoot or a trough of uninflammable copper-wire netting. A fly-ladder lay along the main ladder, to which it was jointed, and was raised, when needed, by levers and ropes. A third ladder, known as the "first floor," which could be jointed to the fly-ladder, was placed under the main ladder; while a fourth could be added, bringing the height up to 60 feet. The fly-ladder could also be instantly detached for separate use if required. The carriage on which this arrangement of ladders was mounted was comparatively light, and was fitted with springs and high wheels, and two men could move it anywhere. As we have said, drill for various descriptions of escapes is practised at headquarters; but the general instructions are that, when running the machine, two men are to be "on the levers," to prevent accident. There used to be a society to organize the use of fire-escapes. It was called the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire, and was first established in 1836. About seven years later its object was more fully attained, when it was reorganized, and had six escape-stations in the metropolis. In 1866, it possessed no fewer than eighty-five stations, while many lives had been saved, and numerous fires had been attended. But next year, a municipal fire-brigade having been established, the society handed over its works, and practically made a present of all its plant to the Metropolitan Board of Works, the Fire-Brigade Act having been passed in 1865. And so once more municipal organization took up and developed what voluntary effort had begun. Various devices have also been employed to afford escape from the interior of the building. Perhaps the simplest, and yet one of the most effectual, consists of a rope ladder fastened permanently to the window-sill, and rolled up near it; or a single cord may be used, knotted at points about a foot apart all along its length. Like the rope ladder, the cord may be permanently fastened to the window-sill, and coiled up under the toilet-table, or in any place where it may be out of the way, and yet convenient to hand.